One of the things that make the movies so infinitely fascinating to me is the fact that there are so many ways to make a good movie, and even more to screw one up. Sometimes films are good, or great, because they are self-contained. They allow their audience to become lost in the world they project, completely forgetting their problems beyond the theatre door. Conversely, some films achieve greatness because they acknowledge that they exist as part of a larger canon, referencing and paying homage to other fantastic pictures. Both of these tasks are difficult, and the trick to either is in not going too far.
I kept thinking of another film throughout almost the entirety of Dario Argento’s brilliant Suspiria (1977); not one that had come before that it made reference to, but one made many years later. I couldn’t get those dorks from American Movie (1999) out of my head. Everything Argento was doing seemed like it must be regarded as celluloid gold to Mark Borchardt and his friends. If you haven’t seen either film it occurs to me that they would make a killer double billing. One is the story of a man desperate to make a film, the other an example of everything he aspires to do with it. Both detail the horrors of the creative process, one literally and one metaphorically.
I should be forthright and admit that horror falls low in the ranks of my favorite genres. I’ve seen most of the classics that the 1001 list prompts, and must say that I only found a small few to be effective. I have another title now to add to that short list. I was legitimately frightened by Suspiria. Most of what I’d read on Argento said that the majority of his work was schlock at best, but here at least I’ll have to disagree. There is often a correlation between a low budget and a hokey movie, but with horror films it can be an advantage. The director is forced to actually scare his audience, instead of simply startling them with special effects, and here Agento succeeds wildly.
The story is simple enough, in fact it is almost cliché, but the technique is brilliant. Suzy Banyon (Jessica Harper) is a young attractive ballet student who travels to a school in Germany to study her craft. After frightening events mark her arrival, strange things seem to befall everyone involved with the academy. The premise is almost bare bones, but the way in which Argento employs space and architecture make this film visually complex. He is said to have had his cinematographer Luciano Tovoli view Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) prior to shooting so that he would mock the brilliant animated color scheme.
The richness of the pallet here is equaled by the range of sound employed to evoke fear. Argento worked closely with the band The Goblins to create his soundtrack, and as with so many horror films, it is the true culprit of terror. Everything from nursery rhyme-influenced harpsichord melodies to unintelligible mumbling creates a sense of dread. Indeed, I find it difficult to think of images from the picture without mentally playing back these disturbing harmonics.
I learned from imdb that Argento originally planned to make this film with children as the protagonist ballet students, as opposed to young adults. When this idea was dismissed because the screenplay was so disturbing, Argento changed no dialogue. This gives the film’s antagonists a disquieting but subtle creepiness, as they often refer to the students as “boys” and “girls.” Likewise Argento manipulated the set to reflect this vision, creating pieces that proportionally made the actors appear like children.
I won’t say anything else, except to admit that I too felt like a child again as I took in Suspiria. It’s just creepy, and I was as scared as a tubby kid on dodge ball day in gym class. Aspiring horror directors should take note of how effective not showing things can be.
Grade: 3 Hats Off
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